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Jim Davis
| birth_place = Edgerton, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Northridge, Los Angeles, CA, U.S. | occupation = Actor | yearsactive = 1942–1981 | spouse = Blanche Hammerer, 1945-1981 (his death) | children = 1 | series = Dallas (first series) | character = Jock Ewing | episodes = 77 in series (Seasons 1-3) }} Jim Davis (born August 26, 1909- died April 26, 1981) was the actor who played Jock Ewing on Dallas. His death in 1981 necessitated the death of his character Jock Ewing. Life and career Born in Edgerton in Platte County in northwestern Missouri, Davis attended high school in Dearborn, and the Baptist-affiliated William Jewell College in Liberty. At WJC, he played end on the football team and graduated with a degree in political science. He served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. He was known as Jim Davis by the time of his first major screen role, which was opposite Bette Davis in the 1948 melodrama Winter Meeting, a lavish failure for which he was lambasted in the press as being too inexperienced to play the part properly. His subsequent film career consisted of mostly B-movies, many of them Westerns, although he made an impression as a U.S. Senator in the Warren Beatty conspiracy thriller The Parallax View. Davis appeared 11 times on CBS-TV's long-running Gunsmoke TV series and four times each on Daniel Boone, Wagon Train, and Laramie. In the next-to-the-last Laramie episode, entitled "Trapped" (May 14, 1963), he guest-starred with Tommy Sands, Claude Akins, and Mona Freeman. Davis also appeared in an episode of The High Chaparral and in small roles in the 1971 John Wayne vehicles Rio Lobo (1970) and Big Jake (1971). In 1974, he starred as Marshal Bill Winter in a short-lived ABC Western series The Cowboys, based on a 1972 film of the same name starring John Wayne. ''Dallas'' and last years After years of relatively low-profile roles, Davis was cast as family patriarch Jock Ewing on Dallas, which debuted in 1978. During Season 4, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, but continued to film the show as long as he could. In many scenes as the season progressed, he was shown seated, and his voice became softer and more obviously affected by his illness. He wore a hairpiece to cover the hair he lost from chemotherapy. A season-four storyline regarding the Takapa development and Jock's separation from Miss Ellie was ended abruptly near the end of the season. The writers depicted the couple suddenly leaving to go on an extended second honeymoon when Davis obviously could no longer continue to work. Their departure in a limousine in the episode "New Beginnings" was Davis' only scene in that episode, and his condition was so poor that close watching reveals (based on his unsynchronized lip movement) that he overdubbed his one last line of dialogue. It was his final appearance on the show; he was absent from the final two episodes of season four. He died of complications from his illness while season four was being aired. The decision had already been made prior to Davis' death not to recast the character with another actor."'Dallas' Won't Replace Jim Davis," reported by the Associated Press and published in the New York Times, April 28, 1981. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/theater/dallas-won-t-replace-jim-davis.html Retrieved February 18, 2019. But Jock remained alive off-screen after Davis' death for the last two episodes of season four and the first 11 episodes of season five; the season five storyline was that he was in South America drilling for oil after taking care of Ewing Oil-related legislative business in Washington, D.C. The fifth-season episode "The Search", which confirmed the character's death in a helicopter crash, was broadcast on January 8, 1982, and contained flashback scenes of the character. A portrait of Davis in his role as Jock Ewing often appeared as a memorial on Dallas after his death. Personal life In 1945, Davis wed the former Blanche Hammerer (1918–2009). Their only child was a daughter named Tara Diane Davis (January 15, 1953 – February 9, 1970), who was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 17. Davis later became close to his Dallas co-star Victoria Principal, who had a physical resemblance to his late daughter Tara.Jim Davis, NNDb.com, Retrieved November 25, 2012. Death Davis died at his home in Northridge, California on April 26, 1981, aged 71. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, CA.Getty Images Recognition For his contribution to the television industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6290 Hollywood Blvd. References External links Category:First Series Cast Category:Actors Category:People